


Grieve With Thee

by MelyndaR



Series: Don't Fear the Fall [3]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:48:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21551731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: “There is an old Vulcan saying, from before the time of perfected control of emotion: ‘I grieve with thee,’” Tuvok began to explain. “It indicates a realization that there’s little to be done to… use logic to fix a situation. In your case, there’s no logical way to bring your father here, nor is there a way to bring my children aboard, in my own case."
Relationships: Naomi Wildman & Tuvok, Neelix & Naomi Wildman
Series: Don't Fear the Fall [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1552054
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Grieve With Thee

“You’re especially quiet this morning,” Neelix remarked, stopping by where Naomi was sitting, now alone, at a table in the mess hall.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Naomi repeated what she had told her mom right up until the minute she had to leave so she wasn’t late for her duty shift. To punctuate her statement, she stabbed her breakfast a little viciously with her fork.

“So, I see,” Neelix replied. He hummed, looking her over with a gaze that knew her a little too well before he asked, “Would you like to help me start lunch before you have to start on your homework for the weekend? It might get your mind off whatever’s troubling you.”

“No.”

“After homework, would you like to meet back here for a game of kadis-kot, instead, if you’re still feeling blue?”

An edge crept into Naomi’s voice as she repeated, “No.”

“Are you _sure_ you don’t want to talk about it?” Neelix pressed, and Naomi thought, not at all for the first time, that she hated being such an open book to him… and her mom… and a bunch of other people onboard.

“Yes!” This time she snapped outright at him as she stood sharply from her chair. “You can’t help me all the time, Neelix! It’s not like you’re my dad!”

Tears gathered in her eyes as she ran from the room, ashamed to see the wave of shock that rippled through his expression. She was gone before she could see Neelix gather his wits back about himself as he took a deep breath and turned to the occupant of the table nearest Naomi – the Vulcan who had inevitably heard their conversation.

“It’s ‘Father’s Day’ on earth, so I was told,” Neelix informed Tuvok with a shrug to indicate his confusion at the entire exchange. “Ensign Wildman thought perhaps that was related to what’s bothering Naomi; she asked me to try and cheer her up. It would appear I have failed for now.”

“I am familiar with the human… holiday,” Tuvok allowed, not quite looking at Neelix as he stood and gathered his dishes. “I am sure it will be celebrated today by a number of crewmembers who have birthed offspring aboard the ship.”

Neelix followed him as he walked to the recycler. “Is it a holiday I could find a way to mimic for Naomi, maybe, to make her feel better?”

“No,” Tuvok said flatly, putting his dishes in the recycler and moving to leave the mess hall himself. “I am afraid there are irreplaceable components that are missing in order for the holiday to be a true success for Naomi.”

“So, you’re saying you think there’s nothing we can do?”

“I think you would do best – for your sake and Naomi’s – to leave the situation alone this time, Mr. Neelix,” Tuvok declared, striding out of the mess hall. “Good day.”

* * *

Naomi looked up from her homework when the chime to hers and her mom’s quarters sounded. “Who is it?” she called, still feeling a little peevish at the persistent gnawing feeling in her stomach and her inability to focus on her homework today.

“’Tis I,” Lieutenant Tuvok announced, taking wide steps across her living room to stand in front of her with some sort of device tucked under his arm.

Naomi blinked in surprise at his sudden and unusual presence while he looked with equal confusion over the mess she’d made of her homework, spread across the couch and floor around where she was sitting. “I couldn’t find anything that held my interest,” she explained even though he hadn’t asked, standing onto her feet and at a light parade rest as she asked, “What can I do for you, Lieutenant?”

He hesitated, meeting her eyes as he admitted in his usual level tone, “I don’t know if you noticed, but I was sitting at the table next to yours at breakfast this morning. I overheard the conversations you had with your mother and Mr. Neelix.”

Naomi flushed, embarrassed at her behavior, and at having Tuvok, of all people, call her out on it. “I—I’m sorry if I disrupted your breakfast. I promise I already apologized to my mom and Neelix, though, for the shouting… if that helps anything,” she added, still unclear on why exactly he was here.

“That is commendable,” he allowed. “But clearly you didn’t take Mr. Neelix up on his offer of a game of kadis-kot, either.”

“No, sir. I… don’t feel up to… chatting with people today.”

Tuvok nodded. “Understandable.” Naomi’s eyebrows drew together, and her confusion must’ve been clear in her eyes, because he held out the device he’d brought with him. No, not a “device;" she recognized it now as his kal-toh platform. “When each of my children were about your maturation, I began to teach them how to play kal-toh. I think both you and Mr. Neelix have points in this: you deplore the idea of ‘chatting’ at the moment, but you need something to distract you, nonetheless…” his eyes narrowed a very little bit upon her, studying the effect his next words had on her as he said, “From missing your father on Father’s Day.”

Naomi’s gaze darted immediately back to the homework in her lap, but she couldn’t read it for the tears that sprang to her eyes, just at the mention of… him, at being called out so directly. She swallowed roughly, blinked the tears away, once, twice, three times—

“My family, too, came to celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day simply as a way for my children to express their gratitude for what T’Pel and myself do for them,” Tuvok said carefully, neither of them looking at each other. “But on days like today, I imagine there are parts of my children that… grieve for my absence. As I feel theirs a little more sharply.”

Head still bowed, Naomi squeezed her eyes tightly closed and took one more breath before she felt she had her emotions well enough under control to look at Tuvok without making him uncomfortable. “So. Kal-toh?”

“There is an old Vulcan saying, from before the time of perfected control of emotion: ‘I grieve with thee,’” Tuvok began to explain. “It indicates a realization that there’s little to be done to… use logic to fix a situation. In your case, there’s no logical way to bring your father here, nor is there a way to bring my children aboard, in my own case. But I thought teaching you a game might help you – and myself – to alleviate thoughts of those who are absent from us. In this case, as well as I can, I grieve with thee.”

Naomi drew in one more breath, feeling herself calm as she focused on the challenge being presented to her. She gathered her homework into a neat pile, set it at the end of the couch, and moved to the small dining table. Tuvok joined her as she repeated. “Kal-toh. How does this work? And are you sure I can figure it out?”

Tuvok hesitated before he answered her second question first. “For our purposes today, whether or not you understand is irrelevant, so long as the distraction proves sufficient.”

She understood that to mean that he was saying “no” in his own way, but he also knew she would rise to the challenge anyway. “Thank you, Tuvok,” she said, watching intently as he turned the platform on and moved the first few pieces so that she could see how it worked.

He arched an eyebrow and did not ask what, specifically, she was thanking him for. He only nodded in reply before he said, “You may make your first move now.”

* * *

Hours later, Samantha stepped into her quarters with Lieutenant Paris at her side. Having heard from Neelix how Naomi’s day was going, the helmsman had offered to stop by and spend some time with her after his duty shift – though it went unsaid, he understood the idea of paternal issues a little too well – but the sight that met them froze both Samantha and the lieutenant just inside the door.

Lieutenant Tuvok and Naomi were sitting together at Samantha’s dining room table, a game of kal-toh having clearly been abandoned midway through. Naomi would later inform her that Tuvok had declared she needed a year’s more mental development before they attempted the game again, but that they _would_ return to the idea of him teaching her kal-toh in exactly one year to the day. Currently, however, Lieutenant Tuvok appeared to be helping Naomi with her homework, and she was clearly calmer than when Samantha had left for her duty shift that morning.

“It appears,” Lieutenant Paris said softly, so as not to disturb the duo who were deep in discussion over Seven of Nine’s astrophysics course. “That I am unneeded here tonight.”

“Maybe so,” Samantha replied, still working out what she was seeing. “But thanks for being willing to come.”

“For Naomi? We’re all willing to help. I mean it when I call her ship’s baby. The captain has said herself that we feel a little bit as if all the children aboard belong to the whole crew.”

“For which I am very grateful at times,” Samantha said.

Lieutenant Paris’ mouth quirked as he said, “It makes me wonder what sort of a person is going to make it through all of her protectors to get close enough to her to steal her heart.”

Samantha winced. “We’re not to that stage, yet, right?”

“I dunno,” the lieutenant was only _almost_ teasing as he pointed out. “Ktarian-human hybrids age at twice the speed of purely human children until they reach maturity. I would say that means she’s old enough to be getting crushes, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet,” Samantha said, a wry smile playing about her mouth.

Lieutenant Paris nudged her shoulder good-naturedly, reminding her, “When the time comes, that’s what we’re here for. The senior officers are especially fond of her, so if you need help – ever, I mean it – just let us know. Okay?”

He waited until Samantha repeated “okay” to back into the hallway. “And thanks again.”

He grinned brightly at her. “Any time.”


End file.
